Monterey Time Machine not working

Once the TM2 volume had been created, Monterey displayed a pop-up message asking if I wanted to use the volume with Time Machine. After that I used the Time Machine System Preference to add the second (TM1) volume (specifying that I wanted to use both volumes).

Once all that was done, Time Machine worked in much the same way that it had worked in Big Sur.

- Pie Lover

It may be that only external HDD (or SSD) connected via USB are concerned by this bug. I'm doing a TM backup onto my NAS, which works fine (thanks heaven). With two external drives ((one HDD and one SSD) I've tried all that I could find in the forum, but to no avail. "Waiting to complete the first backup" on both drives, forever. So, I'm at the end of my wisdom - it doesn't work anymore.

Really interesting that Apple issues a major OS release with such significant bugs.

Had the same issue.

I was getting mad when trying to TM on a new fresh formatted Samsung T7 Touch SSD, the progress bar did show as it was backing up but at the end of the process got the "waiting to complete first back up" thought it might had something to do with the finger print encryption feature, but then when I plugged my old HDD TM disk and run Back Up Now had kind of the same behaviour, at the end of the process last back up shown was the one before switching to Monterey.

Temporary fix: Run TM as you normally would, then restart your computer on safe mode (turn off your computer, then long press on power button, select Mac HD + shift, click reboot in safe mode) when trying to TM while on safe mode the backup did fine and the snapshot just builded and older ones were shown on TM software and on the external drive.

This should definitely be sorted by Apple ASAP please !

Chatted to Apple about this and after saying I had tried everything they suggested, they admitted that there might be a bug.

How long does it take for them to sort this problem out? They have caused it! Am now using CCC Backup which does work.

No TM does not work with Monterey. I have tried 2 different SSD discs and the back up does not appear and when I do several backups the TM disc gets full and there is no backup made that I can use. I really hope my MacBook Pro and Macbook mini (both M1 chip) doesn't break now that I don't have any back up...

I have used disk utility to create a partition on an SSD in APFS [I called it M-TM partition] and then the Monterey TM shiows it in the list of available options, and everything went well. So sugguest to: reformat your old partition this way.

I use CCC too: a tool like this is mandatory when you want to back up external drives. And it is oh so fast and efficient. I use it so the separate items on the backup are not erased when changes are made. Great when managing photo's and video's a lot.

You can use Carbon Copy Cloner to backup your data volume to the external SSD. It can be set to run at a given time or repeatedly throughout the day. If the external SSD is large enough you could partition it and backup each device to a different volume. That way you've wouldn't be driving without a seatbelt so to speak.

I have found that the safe mode back-up works as well (NAS and external drives). This is a common issue apparently and needs to be addressed by Apple ASAP. Time machine is a great feature when working properly.

I used MacOS Monterey on my old laptop, a 2019 MacBook Pro 16 with intel chip and time machine worked fine. I got the new 2021 MacBook Pro 16 with M1 chip and I have this same problem. I no longer have the 2019 laptop to compare.

I have a brand new M1 (24-inch, 2021) and safe mode did not work for 2 SSDs and an AirPort Extreme. However, I reformatted all of my backup drives and was starting brand new backups; might have to do with that. Time Machine goes through the process, reaches around 85-90%, and then "Cleans Up,", but there are no accessible files on the SSD. It's backing something up since available memory shows being much less than the full capacity, but Finder reports "0" items.

I did a session with Apple this morning and reported everything after following all of their standard checklist suggestions. I wish there was an easier way to report software issues without them assuming it is somehow something you are doing wrong.

Same Problem.

Working fine until upgraded to Monterey.TM then after 3 days it decided the disk was full. Despite reformatting etc still never completed.

However, reformatting the drive then starting in Safe Mode and doing a backup appears to have kicked it into life and so far it is still working, though early days.

(External SSD drive via USB and encrypted backup)

Same Problem for me, Since upgrading to Monterey I cant access my older backups, as it keeps asking for the encryption password, which I know 100% is correct and it rejects. So I deleted my old backup and decided to make a fresh backup, but it wont work, and if I tried without encryption. It starts and wont complete, also it doesn't run when the computer is in sleep mode with the lid closed, (plugged in).. It all worked flawlessly before upgrading, come on Apple sort this out asap......